The lights of Finney had already been dimmed as audience members filtered in on Thursday night to hear Oberlin violin professor Gregory Fulkerson’s solo recital.

When Fulkerson walked out with his formal tails, he was immediately dwarfed by the vast stage. The image of musician and instrument alone on stage was incredibly poignant.

Fulkerson’s appearance preserved the antiquated tradition of formalized concert music in the face of today’s ragged musical tradition, where young artists appear on stage with un-tucked shirts and denim, attempting to present classical music in the hippest way possible.

This “Custer’s Last Stand” was oddly appropriate in the context of Bela Bartok’s Sonata for Solo Violin, the recital’s showy centerpiece.

Completed one year before his death in 1945, Bartok clearly portrayed his musical ideas on paper, combining hundreds of years of musical heritage and his own innovations as a 20th century composer.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata in G minor, which inspired Bartok’s Sonata for Solo Violin, also appeared on the program. In his struggle, Bartok seemed to be questioning music history’s place in the contemporary musical world.

In a striking passage in the third movement, Fulkerson followed a particularly clichéd passage with a series of high, scratchy harmonics.

Bartok was juxtaposing the old and the new to see if they could survive each other; the duality was riveting, both to Fulkerson and the audience.

The professor’s performance of the Bach sonata, though technically brilliant, came off as predominantly detached and cold when compared with the Bartok piece, about which he was clearly more passionate.

Rounding out the program was Eugene Ysaye’s Sonata Ballade with its violent bursts of virtuosity.

Fulkerson played it well and with the same purposefulness and passion he had in the Bartok.

A very well played and thought-provoking recital created a triumphant evening of music. Fulkerson provided an exciting performance at Finney, challeging his audience.